Pastry Mat Review and Helpful Hints

Norpro Silicone Pastry MatAfter buying a rolling pin, my second revolution was to purchase a non-slip pastry mat.  I bought the cheapest one for sale at Amazon, for about $10.  Then of course I discovered that I don't have any counters big enough to lay it out, so I scrounged up a square of plywood that I can set over my kitchen sink, as a rolling board.

The pastry mat has a weird texture that wants to squirm out of your hands.  I swear that it wouldn't take much to dress this thing up for Halloween.  You could hide it inside a box, and make little kids reach their hands in through a hole in the side of the box, and when they felt it, they would squeal in terror.  I don't half want to squeal in terror when I pick it up, myself.

You want to be careful not to use any kind of edge on the pastry mat.  This despite the manufacturers' assurances that you can use a knife or a pizza cutter.  However, I can't tell you how many Amazon reviews I read that said "I used [an edged device] and it cut my pastry mat!"  Better safe than sorry, if you ask me.

One thing that surprised me - although I don't know why it should - is that you do need to put down flour over the pastry mat before you set out the dough.  The first time I used it, I didn't lay out any flour first.  I assumed the "nonstick" part of the mat would take care of that, you know?  I had a dickens of a time trying to roll out the dough.  I eventually realized that it was sticking to the mat, resisting my every attempt to roll it out.

Cleaning the pastry mat isn't as difficult as drying it.  To clean it, I give it a wipe with warm water and a soapy rag.  You wouldn't want to use anything too "scrubby" on your mat.  Just work at the bits of stuck dough and butter with your fingertips.

Once it's washed, I shake out as much water as I can.  Then I wipe off as much water as I can with a dish towel.  I live in a damp climate, and I don't want it to get mildewed and nasty!  I drape it over a stack of dishes in the dish drainer, so that it has the fewest possible points of contact.  Whenever I walk past, I'll rearrange it a little, to give it a chance to dry out.

I talked recently about a success in making pie crust.  I have since made several other pie crusts, each one better than the last.  After one disastrous experiment with pasta, and seeing that October is National Bake and Decorate Month and National Pasta Month. I may have been lured into trying to make homemade pasta again!  Not being able to properly roll out the pasta was definitely a big factor in my grotesquely failed attempt at tortellini.  (Even my chickens wouldn't eat the leftovers, and that's really saying something.)